HaiChuu - Lime flavor

Oh look!! It's another stick of butter!!! This time it is strangely green tinted... That's because, like last time, this is not butter. This is yet another picture of one of my favorite Japanese candies, HaiChuu. This one is lime flavored. It came as part of a bagged variety pack that I purchased during atrip to Maido, a Japanese market in Narberth, Pennsylvania. The bag contains three different citrus flavors. There are the usual culprits, orange and lime; however, the third flavor is not what most - what I - expected it to be, lemon. Instead it is grapefruit flavored. It is a very mild grapefruit flavor. It's pretty tasty but has a slightly funny aftertaste.

Pizza

I really love pizza!! Andrew is always telling me how he has pizza at work for lunch and I don't get it very often at home. I decided that I wanted pizza tonight and so we had it. Typically we get pizza from the local pizzeria; they have a special of two large cheese pizzas for $11. When I called tonight, however, they said that they got rid of the special!! What's up with that?! This sucks!!! Now if have to pay $7.50 per pizza... :-( Oh well; it is still tasty.

Samoa

I broke down and ate some Girl Scout cookies today. My boss brought in twelve boxes of cookies for our office. I had some of the Samoas (now called "Carmel Delights" or something like that). They are so tasty. They are sooooo fattening though. I swear the Girl Scouts are conspiring to make America fat!! Or at least me... And the worst part is that none of the cookies have trans fat so they won't be banned... Now nothing can be done to protect me from myself. ;-)

Black Raspberry Jelly

I bought this jelly off a vendor at a local fair this past summer. We finally opened it this morning and it was pretty tasty. I also bought peach preserves that I'm looking forward to tasting. Andrew got strawberry-banana jam or something like that. I don't really know if I'll like it... It could be good... I have some issues with the idea of banana flavored things that aren't creamy. Yes, I do have problems.

Tic Tacs

These tic tacs have been sitting on my bedside table for quite a long time. I think that I really should eat them soon. Do tic tacs go bad?

*This is my post from Saturday, January 17, 2007. This post is late. Andrew and I watched a movie together last night. By the time it was done after midnight, I just couldn't muster the energy to do anything but get into bed. Even that was a chore... I also have to confess that I took this picture today, not yesterday. I forgot to take a picture yesterday. I should have taken a picture of the tasty pastries we had for breakfast...

Cosi

My neighbors, Andrew and I went to Cosi for dinner tonight. I haven't been there in a while so I was really looking forward to it because I really love Cosi!! Their bread is just so darn tasty. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed. The bread for my sandwich was about half as wide as it usually is and about a third of it had no stuff in it. It almost made me cry... Really. Thankfully I was able to make up for it by going to a diner later and having an omelet, homefries and coffee. I really like going to diners. They are just so fun with their 7-20 page menus, typically tacky decor and waitresses with big hair.

Clementine

I love clementines!! These came from the local Korean market. They are tasty but some of them can be a little dry...

Tea

Yes; I did post a tea picture on my blog, day-by-day, yesterday. I liked it so much that I though that I would post a new one today on my food blog. So, here it is. Today I tried Teavana's Sweet Cranberry Black. I unfortunately let it steep too long. I forgot about it after taking pictures of it... It made it a little strong for my liking but tasty nonetheless. To get the story on the tea, see my post on day-by-day from yesterday.

Bento

Andrew and I went cooking crazy on Sunday. Why? Just because... So, now we have a bunch of food that we need to eat up before it goes bad. Andrew made a bunch of karage, Japanese fried chicken pieces. They are very tasty. We have been taking them for lunch every day this week and I'm still not tired of them. We have been packing little bento boxes for lunch. While it's not very fancy at the moment, it is a start. I hope that one day I will have enough time and energy to make real good bentos, with lots of variety and food cut into cute shapes. :-)

Burrito Dos Manos

Andrew and I went to Baja Fresh for dinner tonight. It was soooo tasty!! We shared the Burrito Dos Manos with chicken and black beans, enchillado style. The thing is so big that they have to split it between two plates. Just look at how much stuff is crammed into that burrito. Now, that is what I call good eating. Baja Fresh also has some tasty guacamole and fresh made chips that are really good. We shared the puny size guacamole this evening...

Rice

The staple of any respectable Asian diet. Oh wait... I'm not Asian...

Melon Ramune

This is shot of the marble in the ramune that I had today. This one was melon flavor - tasty!! Ramune, for those who don't know, is a Japanese soft drink that comes in a glass bottle that is stopped with a marble. In order to open the bottle, you use a little piece of plastic that comes with the bottle to push the marble into the soda. So, besides tasting good, ramune is fun to open!!

Ketchup

Tonight, we went to a local pizzeria to get dinner and, although they have many different things to eat, all I really wanted was french fries. So, that it is what I had. We were going to be eating the food at Andrew's parents' house. Because I didn't know if they had any ketchup, I brought my own bottle from home. That's right. After all, what would french fries be without ketchup?!

Yogurt

And now we come to one of my favorite food groups - dairy!! I love to partake of all sorts of dairy products. Some of my all time favorites in this category are cheese, ice cream and yogurt. This is a picture of the yogurt that I had this evening while I watched a video for class. This yogurt is especially tasty, being of the fruit-on-the-bottom variety and my most favorite flavor, boysenberry!!!

Chelsea Green Tea Milk candy

Before anyone asks, no, this is not a bar of soap. It is, yet again, a Japanese candy that looks like something other than candy when shot really close-up. This is Chelsea Green Tea Milk candy. It is a hard candy that tastes like Japanese milk green tea. It is so tasty!! Unfortunately the "milk" that is swirled throughout the candy didn't show up really well in any of the shots that I took. When you sit it in person, it is a powdered green tea colored candy that has ivory colored swirls running through it. This candy comes from Meiji. This company makes many, many, many, many, many different kinds of candy. Think: Japanese Hershey's with a lot more than chocolate...

Life Savers

This is a Life Saver, obviously, Sweet Mint flavor. One of my coworkers let me try it. It is pretty tasty. The flavor really reminds me of these vanilla mints that I used to get. I think they were Breath Savers, but I haven't seen them in a long time. Oh, and look, I don't just eat candy that is made in Japan!! Life Savers are made in the good ol' US of A.

Chinese Food

There is nothing like having some really tasty Chinese food. Yesterday, during our cookie baking fun, we ordered some Chinese food for an early dinner because all we had had to eat up to that point was donuts and cookies. Andrew and I haven’t ordered Chinese food at home since probably last New Year’s Eve (December 2005, that is). Well, I have to say that I was really pleasantly surprised at how good the food was. I, of course, was a pig and had two egg rolls, kung pao chicken and fried rice!! What was really amazing, though, was the fact that each dish tasted different from each other. You might not think that this is anything to be astonished about but let me tell you, when the only Chinese food you have been eating for the past year has come from a lunch truck that has only one type of sauce, this can be an amazing taste sensation!! It definitely was for me :-) What is pictured is some of the leftovers (the portions were also huge!!) that I had for lunch today. I didn't have any more egg rolls but I did get to have some of my aunt's leftover chicken lo mein...

Spice Cookies

Aunt Beth came over today to bake cookies. All she wanted was spice cookies and so that is what she got. The two batches that we made produced over 9 dozen cookies!! They aren't small cookies, either. I really love these cookies. They are soft, just the way I like my cookies. They taste of molasses, cinnamon and ginger. Mmm mmm mmm... Maybe I'll post the recipe when I start updating my food blog, Tidbits and Sips, again. Wouldn't that be tasty?

Cheesecake*

Ok. Today I ate many things that were not included in the diet. I was very bad!! Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the other tasty food that I ate today, like Baja Fresh... This tasty key lime cheesecake that I had at Andrew's parents' house was the only food that I took pictures of today. The lighting where we were was very low and so all the cheesecake pictures that I took came out blurry or washed out because of the flash. This was the best of the bunch. Sad, huh?!

*This is my post from Saturday, January 13, 2007. This post is late because, by the time we got home last night, it was already today... I think that Saturdays might become a problem for me and these photo-a-day blog projects. Oh well...

Popcorn

I love popcorn!! Buttery, salty, tasty!!!

Granola Bar

This is a Nature Valley crunchy granola bar, maple brown sugar flavor. I really love these granola bars even though I am bigger fan of chewier granola bars. My other favorite flavor is oats 'n honey. Tasty!!

Special K

Today started my two week Special K kick-off to my diet. I'm going to do two weeks of Special K for breakfast and dinner. Then I'm going to switch to salad for dinner for three weeks. I plan on following a pattern of one week of Special K followed by three weeks of salad. Sounds yummy, doesn't it?

Parsley

Now, I have done quite a bit of cooking in my time but there is one thing that I really just haven't grasped - the culinary obsession with parsley. It is an herb that is used almost ubiquitously, in so many of the cuisines with which I'm familiar; however, it is a culinary enigma to me. In its dried form, it has no real flavor. In effect, it tastes like nothing and is, in my opinion, only good to add the "herb look" to dishes such as lasagna and stuffed shells. In its fresh form, it tastes mildly like grass smells. Is that supposed to be a good thing? Maybe that is the "freshness" that it is supposed to add to dishes, the freshness of freshly cut grass... Anyway, there is fresh parsley in the dish that Andrew is preparing this evening. I am hoping that the flavor of the smoked paprika in the dish will overpower the "freshness" of the parsley.

CUBYROP

As the name on the packaging suggests, this is CUBYROP. These are tiny hard candies that come in a variety of fruity flavors. They are, in fact, little cubes of hard candy. Maybe this is where part of their name comes from; maybe not... Anyway, they are packaged with two cubes in every pack and the two flavors are typically different in each pack. My favorite flavor combination is melon and peach!! Yummy... Unfortunately, this wasn't that combination. It was still tasty though.

Scramble Eggs and Crescent Rolls

The breakfast of champions, all buttery and salty!!! Mmmmm... And yes, I do have four crescent rolls on my plate and I ate them all!! What?! You have something to say about that?

Iced Tea*

So, we went to Teavana today. Teavana, for those of you who don't know, is this great tea store where they sell all kinds of specialty teas and tea paraphernalia. What makes the store really wonderful is all the samples that they have!! Typically, we just stop in to stare at the expensive teapots and taste all the samples... We had an iced tea once that was really, really tasty. This time we decided to finally purchase some tea for ourselves and try to recreate this iced tea. It turns out, however, that making this tea was going to be no small undertaking. So, armed with two different teas (yes, two, as almost none of the samples at the store have only one kind of tea in them which meant that we had to try our hand at blending), a pot, water and a candy thermometer, we set out to make 32oz of iced tea. Let's just say that the process of making this particular iced tea was quite lengthy and included keeping close watch on the temperature of the water and making a couple of additions throughout the process. Then, when it was finally over, we had to wait until the next day to try it so that we could drink it could without having to dilute it with ice!! Overall, I had a great time and can't wait to try making more. ;-)

*This is my post from Saturday, January 6, 2007. This post is late because, by the time I was finished playing Final Fantasy XII last night, it was already today... hehe...

Pulmone

We had Pulmone spicy soup with rice tonight. Tasty!!!!!

Chicken Wings

Well, it's the bones that were left after I was done eating them anyway. They were pretty tasty but I think that I need to add more spice rub next time...

Cream Bun

Meet the cream bun from Papa's Bakery at the local Korean market. These are one of my favorite Asian pastries. The ones from this bakery, however, leave something to be desired. They always have a bit of weird taste to them. I'm not really sure what it is but it is a bit gross. The ones that I can get in Philly's Chinatown are better and they don't have that funny taste. Unfortunately, I don't get there often. The ones I had in Japan, though, were the best I've ever had. I can't wait to go back some day!!

HaiChuu - Yuzu flavor

I really love HaiChuu!! These came to us direct from Japan and guess what?! They are citron (yuzu) flavored!!!! Tastes almost like the tea I featured yesterday. It is just wonderful... :-)

Honey Citron Tea

This stuff is really great and it's my new favorite food stuffs!! This is honey citron tea from the local Korean market. This stuff comes in a jar and it looks a lot like orange marmalade. All you have to do is put some in a cup and mix it with water, either hot or cold. So far I have only tried it with hot water as a hot tea and it is great. I can't wait to try the honey black raspberry tea that I got today. It looks more like syrup than the honey citron tea does, maybe that means it has more sugar... :-)

Introduction

So, I have an overarching theme to my resolutions for this coming year, 2007: Stop being lazy!! To this end I am starting several projects. I really want to do things that will give me something to look back on and remember the year. To accomplish this, I have decided to start two separate photo blogs. This is one of those blogs. Each day, I will post a picture of one of my favorite things - food!!! If you also like food, check out my food blog, Tidbits and Sips. Also, check out my other photo blog for the year, day-by-day.